2026
Legislative
Scorecard
This year, for the second time, HSA produced scorecards grading both New York City and New York State elected officials.
View our 2024 Scorecard here.
Introduction
Dear Friends, Supporters, and Colleagues –
Human Services Action (HSA) is proud to share our 2026 City and State Scorecard. This is an important tool in highlighting where New York State and City elected officials stand on key issues impacting the essential human services sector – and the millions of New Yorkers these organizations serve and employ.
HSA envisions a world in which New Yorkers have all their basic needs met and human services providers can focus on building connection and community. Holding our elected officials accountable to prioritizing the human services sector in budgets and legislation is a first step to that goal.
We need elected officials to recognize the sector for the true economic engine it is. Beyond employing hundreds of thousands of workers across New York, our organizations provide clients with the services, skills, and tools they need to thrive in life and in the workplace. This work does more than add to the economy – it improves the lives of our neighbors, helps our children grow, connects seniors to community, and delivers lifesaving assistance to those in crisis. Both our Governor and Mayor have announced agendas focused on affordability, and the nonprofit human services sector is the pathway to achieving that goal.
Our second scorecard expands on the first, highlighting where our leaders are recognizing the need to improve systems, pay contracts on time, and pay workers fair wages. It’s exciting to see the growing focus on sector-wide priorities: improving government agencies, reforming contracting laws, and most importantly, expanding on successful cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) advocacy to advance true wage equity for our workers.
The grades in this scorecard reflect a broader set of priorities, and we look forward to working with nonprofits, workers, volunteers, and elected leaders to push for better investments and stronger systems. There is much work ahead, and these new grades show that our elected leaders must deepen their commitments to prioritize funding and legislation to strengthen the sector. We need to work together to ensure that gaps aren’t balanced on the backs of nonprofits and the communities we serve – particularly as we face a difficult budget year across New York.
That is why our biggest call to action is to you! Share this scorecard with your networks and sign up here to receive updates from HSA. Call your legislators and tell them to support priorities that matter most to our sector – and stay tuned for more from HSA. We’ll be making endorsements in the upcoming State elections and continuing to partner with advocacy coalitions to ensure our leaders know that workers need JustPay, that nonprofits need to be paid on time, and that an affordable New York is only possible when the sector is front and center on the agenda.
The scorecard is a valuable tool in our shared effort towards transforming the human services sector. We welcome your feedback and questions as we hone our scorecard for future years. Please do not hesitate to reach out to info@humanservicesaction.org and let us know how we can improve this tool for the future.
In Solidarity,
Board of Directors
Human Services Action
P.S.
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Methodology
The issues considered in the scorecard represent the consensus of human services leaders on the board of Human Services Action. Criteria for inclusion are: a legislative, budget, or regulatory issue that pertains directly to the human services sector in New York City, and its scope must impact the entire sector (rather than a subsector, such as aging services or immigration services).
Once determined, each issue is given a weight based on its level of impact on the human services sector, and each candidate is scored on a scale of 1 - 5 (City) or 1 - 8 (State), with five or eight being the highest possible score. These scores are based on public records of a legislator's vote or support of that issue.
For regulatory issues, a score is determined based on the percentage of successful compliance with the regulation, as stated in publically available reports. Points are also issued for various support actions of the human services sector including participating in pressers, rallies, actions, hearings, and online. The candidate is given a weighted average of all relevant issues to determine their final score.
Feedback?
This is our first year producing a legislative scorecard. We welcome your feedback so we can improve for future resources like this one.
Send us a message using the form below – or email us at info@humanservicesaction.org.
And if you’re able, please use the button below to help us spread the word about the scorecard on social media!